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Mayuko Yatamoto
Description Barely over five foot, Mayuko makes up for what she lacks in height with sheer determination and bloody mindedness. In the lab she is quiet, dedicated and detached. Outside however she's loud, generally happy and a keen gamer/geek girl whos dress sense usually fits the situation. She's slim, almost boyish but with enough cleavage and hips to define her as female. Her black, straight hair goes down to just bellow her chin in what would be a very sensible bob cut. However, one side is much longer than the other. The soft lines are layered, with the bottom layer being dyed a deep 'Cadbury' purple. This under layer only shows when she swishes her hair or moves her head quickly. In the lab she keeps her hair carefully pinned in a bun so that it doesn't show. Her false arm is as often uncovered as it is covered, the better to reach all the tools/pens/little cubby holes she has inside the metallic structure, although the hand is a standard rubber false hand that is easy to spot as a fake. For this reason when the arm is covered the hand usually remains hidden in a pocket as is not uncommon for scientists to do when working. History Born to an average family in Kyoto, Japan. Mayuko was a typical girl. Liking flowers and kittens, dolls and music all through her younger years. At the age of 8 however, her parents and herself were taking a train back from a trip across the city after her birthday. Ice on the track derailed the train, killing her father (among others) and crushing Mayuko’s arm under twisted metal. The doctors had to amputate above the elbow, and Mayuko had to come to terms with both the loss of her father and the loss of her limb. Having been right handed, losing her right arm was more than a little difficult, forcing her to train her left arm to be the primary. But she approached the challenges with gusto, determined to prove she could still do all she could before. She continued on her gymnastics classes all the way through her time in Japan. But shortly after turning 14, her mother got a new job in America, finally getting the visa she’d been looking for the last 2 years in a hope to get away from both the stigma of being disabled in a competitive country and because her chosen profession (acupuncturist) earned over twice as much there as a teacher rather than a practitioner. There followed her teens in an American high school, getting teased not just because of her arm now, but because of her ethnicity as well. Although English is taught as a second language in all Japanese schools, it took her a long time to become truly fluent. However, as things she’s read, seen and heard just seem to stay with her, she picked up most other things very quickly. Intellectual pursuits always seem to come easily to Mayuko, almost as if making up for her physical deficiency. And she forces herself into physical activities, as much to prove to herself as others that a lost arm doesn’t make her a lost cause. As soon as she reached America and gymnastics actually cost money, she threw herself into a free martial arts class at her school, sticking with that all the way through high school, college and university. Joining the gun club as soon as she was old enough to do so. Mayuko also got into technology, more to ‘fit in’ than anything to begin with, finding herself labelled with the geeks and gamers anyway, that’s what she became. Finding that with a few modifications, any game was playable. At 16, she used basic electronics to build a ‘mouse’ that you use with your feet. Opening up the PC to her. She loved it instantly. In it she can become what she wants, as complete as she dreamt herself to be. And so, she moved into the world of gamer geeks. Cosplaying and gaming in her spare times. Her lack of an arm allowed her to pull of costumes that others couldn’t, and she soon became adept at modifying her prosthetic to look like a cyborgs arm, a weapon addon, a blade. She was a hit at the events she went to, even if the modifications weren’t her design, she seemed just about able to replicate them. And so, she got her masters in robotics, having now determined herself to making a complete robotic arm, movable with muscles or impulses, she’s not sure at the moment, but it ‘must’ be possible, and she’ll be the one to do it. Failure is not an option. She put herself through the last year of University and her Masters on loans and sponsors. Upon getting her first job, she had to move to Lost Haven. Unable to pay for her own place and own a vehicle for the site visits, she poured her remaining money into a tatty, but reliable VW camper van (circa 1968), and now lives out of this, driving into work and working the day, driving back into the china town district, where she parks out of the way on a quiet street, using either her 3g dongle, or leaching someone’s wireless network where possible. Almost all her money is paid back to the loans that she used to get her where she is, leaving only a very modest amount for food, and so on. She pays a very small supplement from her wages for the works Gym, allowing her to train and shower there each day. Quotes Other Characters Opinions on Her Quick Nav Home Mortal Mage Vampire Werewolf Hunter Changling